


The Hallmark of a Good Valentine

by Lord_Byron_Mudkippington



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Background KanaChika, F/F, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 13:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17767361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington/pseuds/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington
Summary: Dia expects a normal, conventional Valentine's Day. Nothing is conventional when it comes to Mari, though. Not when she has index cards to write on.





	The Hallmark of a Good Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> I won't be able to post this on Valentine's Day proper, so I'm posting it a day early.

"So, do you have something planned for tonight? It is Valentine's Day, after all." Kanan busied herself with fixing the toy stocks that had been knocked around by excited children. She had been in the process of doing that when she saw Dia passing by, which seemed like the perfect time to flag her down. Since her two best friends, Dia and Mari, were about to have their first Valentine's Day together as a couple, she wanted to make sure that it was all going well for the two of them.

"Is it?" Dia deadpanned, standing next to Kanan with her arms crossed. "I hadn't noticed with all that 'Happy Valentine's Day!' signs on the front doors."

"Snarky as always." Kanan rolled her eyes, setting the last of the toys in their proper place before turning to face Dia. "I'm serious, though. Are you and Mari doing anything tonight? It's your first Valentine's Day together, and that's pretty important."

"I know, I know." Dia uncrossed her arms and shoved her hands into her vest pockets. "I was going to get her flowers and take her to dinner." She stared at Kanan, as if waiting for her to critique her plans. Kanan just shrugged and started walking out of the aisle, with Dia following. "What? You don't think that's acceptable?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. I can hear it in your tone." Kanan rolled her eyes, but just let Dia continue to talk herself in circles. "It's just supposed to be a normal day, right? Yes, I know that it's Valentine's Day, but do we need a specific day to show our love? Besides, what girl doesn't love flowers and a nice dinner? It's perfectly romantic, right?" Kanan didn't answer, causing Dia to bite her lip in worry. "Kanan!"

"Do you really need my advice if you feel so sure about this?" Dia 'hmpf'ed and didn't answer. "Look, Dia, logic doesn't work with dating. Otherwise there wouldn't be a fifty percent divorce rate. You gotta show that you care." The two of them had reached the electronics section, where Kanan started to poke around at the video game plushies.

"I do care, though! I'm not dating her for no reason." She sighed as Kanan held up a yellow rodent, inspecting it closely. "Look, I'm sure it's fine. Mari's not-" She stopped herself, thinking about Mari's excitable nature and expensive tastes. "Err... We don't need a specific day to let us know that we have feelings for each other."

"Whatever floats your boat, Dia." Kanan laughed as she dropped the plush back onto the shelf, seeing Dia pouting at her. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to double check with Chika concerning our own plans." With a smile and wave, she walked away from Dia, heading to the break room so she could make a call. Dia sighed and walked the opposite way, towards the front of the door. She couldn't let herself get psyched out by Kanan. There was a plan, it was simple, and she knew what she was doing.

She hoped so, anyway.

* * *

Dia was finishing up looking through the registers before heading out for the day. All she had to do was buy some flowers on the way out, and she'd be golden. She'd call up Mari, invite her to dinner, give her the flowers, and they'd have a nice, calm Valentine's Day. However, before she could get to the flowers, she was stopped by Riko, who came over to her and handed her a card.

"Mari wanted me to give you this." Dia raised an eyebrow, taking the card from Riko. Mari had been there earlier, but she remembered her leaving an hour ago. If she'd wanted to give her a card, why not do it in person? "I don't know why she didn't give this to you herself, but she was insistent on having me deliver it."

"I was wondering the same thing." Frowning, she looked at the front of the card. "You have my heart?" She read the words on the front of the card, noticing the logo in the corner. It was one of those Hallmark Valentine cards they sold. Then why would Riko be the one to give it to her if it was from Mari? She opened it up and was surprised to find that it was a pop-up card. A smiling red heart came out from the card, with a white arrow pointing to it and the words 'See? It's right there!' written before the arrow. "Wait, Mari wrote something. 'Head to the fruit aisle, baby.' The heck? Why would she want me to go there?"

"Maybe she left you something there." With a shy smile, Riko walked off. She watched Riko go, confused. Why would Mari leave her something in the fruit aisle? Hadn't she left already? Well, she wasn't getting any answers by just standing there. Sighing to herself, she decided to first go grab the flowers. Once she figured out whatever little riddle Mari had decided to set up, she could buy the flowers and head home.

With the flowers and the card in hand, she headed down to the fruit section, looking over the card again. All it said was to go there, but there wasn't any indication about what she was supposed to be looking for. They sold a lot of fruits, and she didn't know which one was the key. That wasn't going to be an issue, as it turned out. As she approached the first aisle, she could see a lone apple resting on an otherwise-empty shelf.

It was an ordinary apple, but the normal bar code sticker wasn't the only thing stuck to it now. Someone - obviously Mari - had put an eye sticker on it, which kind of creeped her out. Picking up the apple, she found a notecard underneath it. On it, Mari had written down 'You're the apple of my eye.' She stared at the words in disbelief, then looked at the apple again. Gods... Was there no day where Mari left her sense of humor at home?

"Go to the children's section with the stuffed animals..." Leaving the apple where it was, she peeled off the sticker, attached it to the back of the notecard, and pocketed it in her vest. The store was still open, and she figured it would weird out some customers to find an apple staring at them. Plus, the notecard wouldn't mean anything to them. Well, it was off to the children's section now. Were these kinds of things normal on Valentine's Day?

There wasn't anything that immediately caught her eye when she reached the aisle, but she figured there'd be something out of the ordinary that would have Mari's mark. She went up and down the aisle, looking at all the big plush toys for clues. Near the end of the aisle, on the second shelf, she could see a notecard. There it was! She hurried over, picking it up and looking at it.

"You're the cat's pajamas?" She glanced up, finally noticing the stuffed animal that the notecard had been lying against. It was, of course, a big cat that had been awkwardly shoved into a pair of infant pajamas. Dia slapped her forehead, looking at the notecard again for where to go next. "Go to the dolls section. Okay..." She pocketed that notecard too, shaking her head. Mari was a character, that was for sure. She didn't bother removing the pajamas from the cat, since she would've had to go the opposite way to put the pajamas back. Off she went to the toy section.

Just like the children's section, there wasn't anything to point her in the right direction automatically. Once again she was forced to look up and down the aisles to find something out of place. Initially she didn't find anything. It was on her second look-around that she noticed one of the dolls in the wrong section. She picked up the doll, seeing the notecard beneath it. Then she did a double take, putting the doll back into her vision. On both of its knees were matching bee stickers.

"Oh no..." She already knew what was coming. It was no surprise to her when the first thing on the card said 'You're the bees knees!' Was she going to be here all night finding all the puns Mari came up with based around their merchandise? She was seriously considering calling Mari and asking what this all was about until she read the bottom of the card, which told her to head to the stock room. That was at the back of the store, and something in her mind had her believing that this was the last place she'd have to go. Nodding to herself, she peeled off the stickers and stuck them on the back of the notecard, pocketing it with the others. If this wasn't the end, she would absolutely call Mari and ask her what was going on.

She stopped outside the door to the stock room, taking a deep breath. Well, time to see what was waiting for in there. She opened the door and stepped inside, surprised at the darkness that greeted her. That wasn't right: the lights should've definitely been on. The main lights, anyway, because there was some sort of alternate light source in the room. Letting the door close behind her, she stepped forward and frowned slightly. Were those... candles?

"Dia! You made it!" Mari was sitting in the middle of all the candles, her smile radiating through the otherwise-dark room. With her eyes adjusting to the light, Dia could see what looked like a checkered blanket beneath her, and a basket in front of her crossed legs. Was this some kind of picnic? "Oh my, are those flowers for me?"

"Huh?" Dia looked at her hand, seeing that she was still clutching the flowers. She'd almost forgotten that she had them in the first place. "Oh, yes. These are for you." She walked over and handed them down, smiling slightly as Mari took them and sniffed them. "I, um, haven't bought them yet, officially. I was going to before Riko came over and handed me your card." She had that in her other hand, and she held it up for Mari to see.

"Mhm! I would've given it to you myself, but I had to be in here to greet you. Sit down, sit down!" She held the flowers close to her, beaming up at Dia. Nodding slightly, Dia sat down across from Mari, looking around her. The candles gave the area a romantic look, and it bathed Mari in an orange glow. She looked beautiful... Well, she always looked beautiful, but the candles were giving her a sort of ethereal appearance. She shook her head, breaking herself out of her stupor. "You hungry? I made us a picnic dinner!"

"Uh, yeah, I... Yes, I am." She was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. So much for her original plans. She watched as Mari set the flowers in a glass that appeared to be partially filled with water. "Wait, you knew I was going to bring you flowers?"

"I figured you would. It's a romantic Valentine's gesture. It's very you." She giggled and moved the flowers so she wouldn't accidentally knock them over, then started to set the food out for the two of them. There were sandwiches, chips, soda, and what appeared to be pudding, in that order. She held up the pudding so she could see what flavor, her eyes widening when she saw what it was. It was matcha-flavored: her absolute favorite. The temptation to tear open the top and eat it right away was tempting, but that wouldn't be very good table manners. Or, rather, picnic blanket manners. Instead, she put it down and picked up the sandwich instead.

"I must say, I'm very impressed with the presentation. This is quite the display." She brought the sandwich close, looking at it curiously. It was shaped like a heart. "You did this?"

"Well... No." Mari laughed, unwrapping her own sandwich. "I tried, but it looked really weird. I had our chef help out to make it perfect." She took a bite of her sandwich, looking over at Dia with an expectant look in her eyes. Dia unwrapped her own sandwich and took a bite, smiling at Mari. It tasted good. Seeing Dia's smile made Mari beam. "Eccellente!" She flashed Dia an 'okay' hand symbol, taking another bite of her sandwich. "Ever had a Valentine's Day like this before?"

"I'll admit that I've never celebrated Valentine's Day in a stock room." She laughed at the pout on Mari's face. "I'm kidding. This is really nice, Mari. It's very romantic." Mari's pout disappeared in an instant, and she happily ate the rest of her sandwich. Dia cracked open her soda and took a sip, washing down the taste of her food. The sandwich was nice and all, but she was admittedly excited to get to the pudding. What could she say? She had a bit of a sweet tooth.

When she got to the pudding, she eagerly dipped her spoon into it and stuck it in her mouth. Now this was Heaven. It was just as good as she'd expected. She sighed blissfully, ignoring the knowing giggle from Mari as she ate a second spoonful, then a third. In between spoonfuls, she noticed Mari was sticking her hands back in the basket. Was there something else in there? Wasn't dessert supposed to be the end of the meal?

"Tada!" Mari pulled out a heart-shaped box, sticking it out in front of her. "It's for you, Dia!" Quirking an eyebrow, Dia set down her mostly-eaten pudding and took the box. She opened it up and immediately could smell chocolate. Chocolate and... more matcha? She brought it a bit closer to her face to sniff it again. Yup, definitely matcha. "If you want to shove your face in it, I won't judge you."

"I am absolutely not doing that." She set down the box in her lap, daintily putting the top back on. As much as it was tempting to go to town on those chocolates, she resisted those urges. She was not an animal. First, she was going to finish her pudding, and she was going to do it gracefully. She picked back up her pudding and put another spoonful in her mouth. "How long did it take you to set all this up?"

"To set this up in here? Like two minutes." Mari laughed, starting to eat her own lemon-flavored pudding. "It took another ten minutes to write the notes and set them all up around the store. I had to do it right before you were supposed to leave, though, in case someone happened upon it and messed everything up." That made sense. Now that Dia thought about it, that could very well have happened. "I had Kanan and Riko hovering around those areas for a few minutes just to make sure no one came around and moved stuff."

"You put a lot of effort into this." Dia was impressed, but she also wasn't too surprised. This kind of thing definitely had a 'Mari' vibe. "You could've just taken me to dinner at a fancy restaurant, though. I would have still enjoyed it."

"I'd already made the sandwiches, though." She ate another spoonful of pudding, staring at Dia over her cup. "So, did you enjoy everything?"

"Yes. This was all very sweet of you to set up." She held up the chocolates, glancing to Mari's left. "Did you like the flowers?"

"Oh yes! They're very nice!" Mari picked them back up and gave them a good sniff, smiling at Dia. "Come closer. I wanna kiss you." Dia rolled her eyes but smiled right back, scooting closer while trying to not upset any of the food remains surrounding them. Mari moved up a bit too, allowing them to meet in the center of the blanket. With matching smiles, they leaned in and kissed each other, a short but sweet meeting. "Your lips taste like matcha."

"Well yours taste like lemon."

"It's the perfect combo!" Mari squealed happily, kissing Dia again. Lemon matcha didn't actually sound like that great of a combination, but Dia wasn't going to say anything about that. She knew what Mari meant, and she agreed wholeheartedly. They broke the kiss, and Mari slipped her hand down to grab Dia's. "Happy Valentine's Day, Dia." She squeezed Mari's hand, smiling warmly. Kanan had definitely made a good point, which had been proven to her here. Mari had obviously put a lot of thought into this setup, all because of what day it was. It meant a lot to her, so it should mean something more to Dia too.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Mari." Next year, she would be the one to plan their date, and it'd be so special it would knock Mari's socks off.


End file.
